Jean Lievens: Why the Sharing Economy is Growing

Most people who share, do it because they want to make the world a better place, according to a new national survey commissioned by AirBnb.

The sharing economy has an estimated $26 billion value, including online platforms that make it easy to do everything from renting out spare rooms in your home (AirBnb) to carsharing (Zipcar), clothing swaps (ThredUP), even sharing extra portions from homecooked meals ( Shareyourmeal, of course).